When 3- and 4-year-olds at Holy Child Preschool had their "Night at the Museum" pajama party last week, the school's hallways reflected the evening's theme, decorated as they were with the children's versions of Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh paintings, sculptures, Pablo Picasso drawings, dinosaur artwork and fossils.
The youngsters came to school in pajamas and slippers, carrying sleeping bags, blankets and pillows, all under the pretense that they were spending the night in a museum that they created themselves.
"Our 3- and 4-year-olds worked very hard over the last few weeks creating their masterpieces for display in our 'museum'," said pre-school director JoAnn Gaal.
The children learned about Impressionist artists Monet and Van Gogh during art class. After studying these masters, the children recreated a few of their famous works, among them Monet's "Impression, Sunrise" and "Bridge Over a Pool of Water Lilies" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and "Olive Grove."
Monet and Van Gogh might have been proud of the renderings.
Before they began to paint, the little ones were shown a picture of the original artwork. The different strokes and colors used were pointed out to them. They worked in groups of three or four. Dabs of paint were put on each "canvas" (oak tag).
They were given verbal instructions on the brush strokes needed to recreate the paintings. The children continued to refer to the original as their versions emerged.
The pre-schoolers moved on to create abstract sculptures by decorating recycled items such as tissue boxes, coffee cans and paper towel rolls. Tissue paper and foam cut-outs added color and transformed the items into works of art. The children also water-colored assorted foam shapes which completed the sculpture.
Continuing the abstract theme, children were introduced to the works of Picasso and asked to create their own abstract drawings. The drawings were compiled into a collage which was displayed with their Monet and Van Gogh "masterpieces."
The children also created three-dimensional artwork by gluing foam cutouts, pom-pom balls and feathers onto paper. Each class built on the previous class's work until the items appeared to pop right off the paper.
"Their artwork was amazing, even more so considering these children are between 3- and 4 1/2-years-old. They worked in small groups, collaborating as they created, and also all worked together to form one joint sculpture," explained art teacher Donna Lucchese.
Finally, under the guidance of Mrs. Lucchese and science teacher Virginia Galiano, the class study of dinosaurs concluded with construction of T-Rex and Stegosaurus skeletons.
The children worked together to glue felt pieces within the outline of the dinosaur's skeleton. Little by little, the skeletons came to life. The children crafted dinosaur fossils as well, using homemade Play Doh. They took their pieces of Play Doh, flattened them and pressed a dinosaur figure into them to form an impression. Once dried the "dinosaur fossils" looked as though they might have been millions of years old.
The day of the pajama party, students escorted family members through the "museum," pointing out their personal contributions to the exhibit.